


the end of the tunnel

by fIavea



Series: the runaways - tower prep au [2]
Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Other, Superpowers, Woohyun and Myungsoo cameo-ing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-09 06:33:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8879635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fIavea/pseuds/fIavea
Summary: They have been looking for a way out from the school for a while now, it's only natural for some of them to start wondering if their efforts are fruitless.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a little disjointed because the only purpose is introducing the characters for the fic I still might or might not able to write. Maybe you will need to read the first fic of this series to understand more. And maybe read this wikia (http://towerprep.wikia.com/wiki/Tower_Prep_(school) ), as the story is based on that.

“Can’t we just rig the election or something?”

Sunggyu can feel a headache forming, an even more prominent headache than the one he permanently has. Back when he decided to form a team to help him find the way out of this school, when he chose the people he trusted enough to join the team, he forgot to pick someone who has a particular skill set—someone who can form plans and someone who uses their brain.

It’s not like the people he had accepted to be on the team are dumb—they are not, even if they don’t appear to be smart. The problem is that they would rather not use their brain to help Sunggyu studying the school system or making plans—they would rather act right away than making up plans. It hasn’t created any problems so far, but it does make Sunggyu’s brain feels like it’s going to explode when no one can offer solutions to the problems they have.

“Why am I the one who have to be a monitor, anyway?” Howon’s voice interrupted Sunggyu’s thoughts, making him sigh because he thinks he remembers that he already explains why Howon needs to get chosen to be a monitor why and why it needs to be Howon.

It’s just for the freaking monitor bedroom, Sunggyu’s current bedroom. Sunggyu doesn’t know when he will disappear from the school—when he will be officially graduate, so they need to prepare to take over the room. Sunggyu’s room is the only access they have to the secret room they are currently using to do planning, and to the underground tunnels. If they lose access, then their efforts for the last few months will be futile. So he needs to make sure that one of them becomes a monitor and gets the room, so their secrets will stay safe.

“Can you imagine Sungyeol trying to lead the students? It will be a mess.” Sungjong snorts. He is acting as if he will be personally offended if Sungyeol became a monitor.

Though honestly, if they are looking at Howon right now, it feels like there is no way that Howon will be a better option than Sungyeol. The 11th grader is currently playing with a bundle of wool with Dongwoo and Sungyeol like a cat. Apparently, Howon reads some things about cat last night because he was bored but now he is unable to stop acting like a kitten. It’s a very weird look for Sunggyu, and he wouldn’t want to watch that again, not even if he gets paid. Howon’s power is odd.

He has no idea why Dongwoo decided to join them. But Dongwoo is Dongwoo. No matter how much of a genius Sunggyu is, he will never understand Dongwoo.

“Isn’t that actually good, considering our situations?” Sungyeol shrugs. He is having fun baiting Howon with a feather bait, which Sunggyu doesn’t even know where he got from. Howon is going to murder him after he comes out of his cat phase. Which Sunggyu hopes will be soon because with the candidate being extremely distracted right now, his attempts to conduct a plan to make Howon gets chosen to be a monitor doesn’t result in anything.

Sunggyu shakes his head, choosing to ignore the current conversation to ask Sungjong, “Where are the posters I told you to make?”

“Here.” Sungjong pulls out a paper that was tucked between his book pages and then hands them to Sunggyu. Sunggyu accepts it and then frowns when he finally sees the poster. The headache he has been feeling starts to get stronger.

“This is horrible.” He frankly says. The poster is a mess.

“You do realize that it’s almost the same as your poster, right?” Sungjong points out nonchalantly.

Yes, it’s too similar to the poster he used when he was running to be a monitor, both designed by the same person. Sunggyu realizes that he is a fool to ask the same person to create another poster. But on his defense, he thought Sungjong has gotten better.

“I hope you do remember that I thought my poster was horrible.” Sunggyu says, trying hard not to roll his eyes, “Can’t you make a different, better, poster than this?”

“Well, I am sorry for not having a graphic designer degree.” Sungjong retorts. It feels like because Howon is out of it right now, he decides to adopt Howon’s habits of being snarky and annoying, “If you want a better poster then ask a design student.”

It’s Sunggyu’s turn to point out, “There is no design student here.”

“That’s why I said that.”

Sunggyu really wants to explode.

 

________

 

Howon doesn’t want to be a monitor.

He never even dreamed of being one, so when Sunggyu suddenly said that he has to be a monitor, he doesn’t even know what he has to do. He doesn’t know why Sunggyu insists that it has to be him instead of Sungyeol who is in the same grade as he is, but for once, he obliges Sunggyu, which he kind of regrets.

He hates responsibility, being a monitor means you have a lot of responsibilities and not to mention he must lead a lot of students. But it is a good way to get more information that is not accessible to other students, so he understands why Sunggyu signed up to be a monitor and even ends up being the head monitor. Still, he doesn’t know if he will like being a monitor or not. He already hates having to campaign, so people will choose him. He has no idea why he needs to campaign when there are only 6 candidates, and 3 of them will get selected. His chance is not bad, but Sunggyu acts as if he is definitely won't get chosen.

So currently he hands out his posters to the students in the hallways as he walks, feeling awkward every time he has to ask people to vote for him. It seems like he is currently begging and he hates begging for anything, especially for a vote.

“Hoya!” He heard Bora’s voice echoing, and he can sense that she is coming from his behind and is going to tackle him, so even before Bora gets a chance to do so, he already avoids it.

Bora seems disappointed by that, but she smiles anyway and asks him, “How’s your campaign going?”

“Tiring,” Howon says, feeling nervous, as he always is around her. He tries to act casual, though. Bora pats his shoulder as if trying to give him strength.

“Good luck.” She says, smiling, and then starting to go away again. Before she really goes away, though, she winks at him and tells him, “You already have my vote!”

Howon watches her run away and sighs. He is still trying to decide whether he really has a crush on her or not but honestly he really doesn’t want to have a crush on anyone. It feels risky.

He looks around and spots a familiar figure being handed a poster by another candidate. Howon watches then, and it doesn’t take long before the candidate goes away, while Myungsoo stays still and seems to be carefully looking at the poster. Howon tries to calculate when is the last time he talked to Myungsoo. It has been a long time, and Howon feels a little regret at that. They used to be close a few years ago, when they were both young and lost in the school. Until today Howon still has no idea why Myungsoo suddenly avoids him and stray further away from him.

Howon decides to approach him, suddenly missing Myungsoo a little. They are not friends anymore, but Howon still wants to talk to him occasionally.

“Uhm. Hi.” Howon awkwardly greets him. He already feels awkward, and now in front of Myungsoo, he feels even more uncomfortable. Myungsoo looks surprised to see him. Howon doesn’t miss the way Myungsoo takes a step back away from him as if he is scared of being close to Howon.

“Hi.” Myungsoo greets him, his voice it too quiet. They are both not looking at each other, and Howon feels lost on what to say to Myungsoo. He looks at his poster and suddenly has an idea.

“Uhm,” Howon starts to say again, and he thinks he needs to stop saying Uhm. He hands the poster to Myungsoo and asks him, “Please pick me.”

He sounds pathetic.

Myungsoo hesitantly takes Howon’s poster, still not looking at Howon at all. He curtly says, “Okay.”

“Thank you,” Howon says. The awkwardness is slowly killing him.

“I need to go,” Myungsoo says, finally looking at Howon’s face before he avoids it again and starts to walk away.

Howon can only watch him go away.

 

________

 

“Honestly why can’t he go explore this place himself.” Dongwoo hears Sungyeol grumbles under his breaths. He is probably trying not to be heard but considering that there are only the two of them in this big tunnel, Dongwoo hears him anyway, “Why does it have to be us.”

Sungyeol doesn’t need to mention Sunggyu’s name for Dongwoo to know that he is talking about Sunggyu, considering Sunggyu is the one ordering them to go explore the tunnel without any purpose. Dongwoo happily accepts it because he is bored. Sungyeol grumbles but still follows Dongwoo anyway.

“Maybe because I can fight and you can’t get hurt.” Dongwoo answers. Dongwoo’s training in this school involves fighting, but even though he is not skilled, his strength alone is enough to hurt people.

“Just because I can heal quickly doesn’t mean I can’t feel pain.” Sungyeol continues to grumble. Dongwoo doesn’t really understand how that is related to what he is saying, but he forgives Sungyeol because he knows that Sungyeol is actually scared of the tunnel they’re at. Dongwoo is scared too, but since Sungyeol is with him, he doesn’t feel that scared.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to feel scared, I am here,” Dongwoo says, patting Sungyeol’s back a little too hard, as Sungyeol stumbles because of that. Sungyeol stands up right away and acts normal, trying to put on a brave face. Of course, Sungyeol is the kind of person who doesn’t want to show that he is scared.

“I am not scared,” Sungyeol says.

“Okay, I believe you,” Dongwoo says, trying to sound believable. He has a feeling that what he is saying makes Sungyeol feels worse.

They go around the tunnel, trying to not be loud in case there are guards around there. So far, they haven’t seen an end or any new rooms they haven’t found before. Though even if there is something, they probably miss it because they’re too focused on not being loud (which is hard for Dongwoo) and not feeling scared.

“I start to think that these tunnels really don't have any purpose. We barely find anything.” Sungyeol says as they keep on walking.

“If it doesn’t have any purpose then what do you think this is for?” Dongwoo wonders. Tunnels always have a purpose, Dongwoo is sure that this tunnel goes somewhere.

“I don’t know.” Sungyeol sighs, sounding dejected, “Do you think we will be able to get out of here?”

“If we try hard maybe we will find a way.”

Sungyeol is really pessimistic lately, Dongwoo doesn’t like it. He doesn’t know what is going on with Sungyeol, and he probably should ask, but he doesn’t want to make Sungyeol feels uncomfortable by asking personal questions.

“Sometimes I can’t help but think that this is useless,” Sungyeol admits to him. This is the first time he admits that, “Maybe we should just wait until we graduate. Maybe we are going home when we graduate.”

“But we still don’t know what are in store for us when we graduate,” Dongwoo says. What all of the members have in common is that they are actually scared of the school, afraid of their futures, which is why they are doing this, “Plus, maybe we can uncover some of this school’s secrets even if we aren’t able to get out. Wouldn’t that be cool?”

Sometimes thinking that he is in an adventure movie motivates Dongwoo to continue following Sunggyu’s plans.

“Cool?” Sungyeol repeats, but then he seems delighted by the idea, “It would be cool. It feels like we are in a movie or something.”

“Our lives will make a good movie.” Dongwoo agrees.

They continued walking but as they continue, the more unfamiliar their surroundings. Sure, almost all parts of the tunnel look the same, but this area actually seems unfamiliar for Dongwoo. Dongwoo confirms it when they finally encountered a rusty door they have never seen before. Both of them points their flashlights at the door at the same time,

“Was it there the last time we went here?” Sungyeol wonders.

“Did we even go around here before?”

Sungyeol tries to open the door, but it won’t open.

“It’s locked,” Sungyeol says, even though it’s obvious to Dongwoo. He turns to Dongwoo and asks, “Can you open it?”

“Sure.”

Dongwoo kicks the door without any thought, and the door flies across the room with a loud bang.

“I was asking you to break the lock, not the whole door.” Sungyeol deadpans.

Dongwoo just grins and doesn’t even put an effort to point out that Sungyeol only asked him to open the door. He happily steps into the room and points his flashlight to the newly opened room.

Oh wow, it’s a rusty lab.

 

________

 

Sungjong stares at Sunggyu, wondering about a lot of things. They are both waiting for Sungyeol and Dongwoo to come back from his exploration in their lair, so Sungjong feels bored. He regrets not coming along with the other two because now he is stuck with Sunggyu who is too busy studying the blueprints they managed to find while Howon is out doing his business. So Sungjong is stuck with his own thoughts.

He has a lot of things on his mind, too many things. He can’t even understand what’s on his mind anymore. Being in this school screws up his mind.

“Why are you still doing this?” He suddenly asks Sunggyu, apparently surprising the older boy because he almost jumps from his seat. Sunggyu is too easily startled, Sungjong is convinced that someday he will get a heart attack from getting surprised.

“What do you mean?” Sunggyu asks after finally collecting himself.

“Still looking for a way out.” Sungjong answers. He lies down on the sofa and stares at the ceiling, “You’re going to graduate soon, anyway, you will get out of here soon.”

“That’s undecided,” Sunggyu says. The way he tilts his head tells Sungjong that he is thinking, “Heechul is still stuck here even though he is supposed to graduate a long time ago, I might be stuck here, too.”

“It’s only because of that?” Sungjong asks again, genuinely wondering. He really doesn’t understand why Sunggyu bothers with trying when he just needs to wait to see his fate. But none of Sungjong’s friends are excellent at waiting, anyway.

“Even if I graduate, you will still get stuck here.” Sunggyu says, “If I can help you guys get out here faster, why shouldn’t I?”

“Oh. So, you’re helping us?” Sungjong wonders. He is surprised because he thought that Sunggyu is using them to help him get out of here, instead of really wanting to work together to see the light. He never confirms his suspicions, but he always has a lingering suspicion that Sunggyu is using them for his own gain.

“Why are you asking this?” Sunggyu wonders, confused.

Sungjong shrugs, “I am just curious.”

It’s silence again. Sungjong still has questions, but his questions are endless, so he is not sure which one to ask. After a while, he finally decides on one.

“Why did you ask me to join your team?” Sungjong asks, “As far as I am concerned I am pretty useless.”

Sunggyu actually asked him to help him with his plan to break out of the school, though until now Sungjong is still not sure why he is there. Sure, he wants to go out of there, too, wants to go back to his family, but he hasn’t done anything significant on the team other than tagging along with everyone.

“You are not useless.” Sunggyu tries to assure him, “If you are useless then everyone in this team is useless, too.”

“You make plans, the others can fight and help to break stuff, I can’t break stuff and can’t make plans.” Sungjong tries to explain what the team members do, as simple as possible. Sure, his power will be pretty useful when they need to interrogate people, but so far, they haven’t interrogated anyone and Sungjong doubts that they will find anyone to interrogate. It’s not like they can try to interrogate teachers for the answers the want to know.

“Are you forgetting all those times you help me make plans?” Sunggyu asks. It seems like he decides to give up on the blueprint as he folds it, “And, you do break stuff when you’re mad.”

Sunggyu finally stands up from his seat and approaches him on the sofa, looking curious. He crouches by the couch and watches Sungjong’s face. It makes Sungjong feels a little uncomfortable.

“What’s up with you?” He asks again, “Are you having an identity crisis or something?”

“No, it’s not that.” Sungjong shakes his head, “I am just wondering about a lot of things.”

He is not sure what is up with himself lately, but in general, he is just questioning a lot of things. Sungyeol tells him that he is in puberty.

“If you’re still curious, you’re on the team because of your ability, too.” Sunggyu finally explains, after being vague with his explanation before, “Actually, I want to ask you to do something.”

“What it is?” Sungjong asks, perhaps a little too eager. Maybe it’s because he wants to prove himself, maybe it’s because he wants to be useful.

“Can you make the students vote for Howon?”

…and Sunggyu said that they didn’t have to rig the election to get Howon on the board. It surely didn’t last long before he changed his mind.

 

________

 

Sungyeol can’t help but bite his thumbnail, feeling extremely anxious as his exam is coming up, as he watches a fight ensuing in a boxing ring. He is watching Howon hitting his opponent in the face and then gets hits back. Sungyeol is almost able to feel the pain because Howon gets hit hard, because when Howon stands up again, Sungyeol can see that the corner his mouth bleeds. It’s a really tight fight between Howon and his opponent, but his opponent has preflex, so Howon doesn’t have the upper hand other than the fact that he is really quick. Sungyeol is not sure what animal Howon is currently imitating, but it’s a fast animal. Sungyeol once thought that Howon’s power is not really a power, as well as Sunggyu’s, but his ability is quite useful for fighting as long as he imitates the right animal. Among the five of them, Sunggyu and Howon have the most normal powers. Sunggyu is just really smart while Howon is just really good at imitating animals.

Sungyeol is not only nervous for himself, but also for Howon. It starts to get obvious that his opponent is winning and Sungyeol is pretty sure that it won’t be only Howon’s body that will be hurt, but also his pride. For now, he worries more about Howon’s condition, though, fears that Howon is going to pass out from getting hit too much.

He can’t help but breathe a breath of relief when the bell rings, signaling that the teachers who are grading their fighting performances have decided that they already saw enough to give a score. At least they stop it before one of them knocks out the other.

Howon bows to the audience and the teachers, before walking towards Sungyeol with a defeated sigh. His face looks worse when Sungyeol sees it close. He has some nasty bruises there, and Sungyeol is sure that his body is even more bruised.

“Are you okay?” He asks, genuinely worry for his friend. They have done this every year, being forced to fight as an exam. They get used to it, and Howon considerably has gotten better at fighting every year because he works hard, has gotten better at incorporating his ability for a fight, but it’s still worrying. Sungyeol really thinks that it’s not right that they get used to this, thinks that they shouldn’t be forced to get used to this.

“As okay as I can be.” Howon says, “Good luck for your fight.”

“Yeah, I am not sure that I will be able to stay alive,” Sungyeol says, laughing even though he is not really laughing. He really hates it that he has to be in the combat class—his healing ability only makes him become a punching bag, as he is always being used so other people can train hitting someone. He is actually sure that that is the reason he is included in the class so they can have a human punching bag. He doesn’t have any ability to help him being good at fighting.

“Your opponent is Dongwoo.” Howon snorts. As if that makes Sungyeol lucky.

“I am more afraid because it’s Dongwoo,” Sungyeol explains. He is seriously worried because while Dongwoo is his friend and wouldn’t try to harm him for real, Dongwoo sucks at controlling his strength. That makes his hits more painful and unpredictable. Sungyeol still can remember that a few weeks ago, Dongwoo accidentally knocked a tree down when they were all exploring the forest. If he could knock down a tree, he could accidentally break Sungyeol in half. He won’t die, but he doesn’t want to imagine the pain.

“At least you will heal right away.” Howon sighs, cringing as he continues to talk, “I will be stuck with pain for the next few days.”

“Just because I can heal quickly doesn’t mean I can’t feel pain,” Sungyeol says. He probably says that a lot lately, but he is seriously tired of being a punching bag. It’s one of the reasons why he hates the school.

“Okay, then at least if Dongwoo hits you hard, you will know that he doesn’t really mean it.” Howon corrects himself. Sungyeol doesn’t really feel better.

“Do you realize that you suck at consoling people?”

“Yes, I am fully aware of that,” Howon says with a grin, though he probably regrets that as he hisses in pain again. Sungyeol feels both bad and glad about that.

“You should get patched soon,” Sungyeol tells him. Right after that a voice blazing, announcing Sungyeol and Dongwoo as the next fighters. Sungyeol groans at that and gets up hesitantly, not really wanting to do the exam.

“Come visit me soon,” Howon tells him, both of them knowing well that between Sungyeol and Dongwoo, it will be Sungyeol who comes out with bruises even though if Sungyeol’s lucky, they are going to disappear really quickly.

Sungyeol sighs and walks towards the ring.

 

________

 

One of Howon’s biggest regrets is getting chosen to be a monitor, but the bigger disappointment is doing his acceptance speech with a battered face because the announcement was made after his combat exam and when the year-end party rolled, his face was still in bad condition. Now that the new year has started, Howon finally starts doing his monitor duty and he really is not looking forward to it.

He won’t tell this right away to Sunggyu, but he is really glad that turns out Sunggyu really doesn’t graduate last year and now is still stuck in his head monitor position. At least he has someone to guide him in this position, someone he personally knows.

Now as his first duty, he needs to guide the new students, so they won’t be so lost in the school. Howon doesn’t like this duty because he doesn’t like talking to strangers. It’s awkward, and he feels uncomfortable around strangers. But he tries to pull himself together and tries to look charismatic as a monitor because monitors do have to have some charisma. He walks towards the first room he needs to visit, checking the names of the students on his tablet.

He feels surprised though when he sees the information about the new student and sees that this student’s roommate is Myungsoo. It’s puzzling because as far as he knows, Myungsoo never has a roommate before. He feels even more confused when he sees that the new student’s ability is not written yet. Is it supposed to be empty? He should ask Sunggyu later.

He arrives at the room and opens the door using his monitor’s card, entering the room right away and calling out, “Nam Woohyun?”

“That is me.” A voice answers right away. They look at each other, and this Woohyun seems to be studying him, “Oh. You’re wearing a different uniform.”

That makes him look at his own uniform, wondering what Woohyun means. Maybe he has seen Myungsoo dressed in a uniform. Now that he is a monitor, his uniform has different colors to the normal students, so maybe that’s why Woohyun says that.

“I am Lee Howon, I will be your guide this semester.” Howon introduces himself right away, showing his monitor card and ignoring what Woohyun just said, “You can just call me Hoya.”

Woohyun looks at him, seemingly very lost and confused, which is understandable, “Is this really a school?”

“Yes.” Howon nods, “This is Tower Prep, a school for people with special abilities.”

He tries to remember what stuffs he is allowed to say about the school, but suddenly he forgets because he tries too hard to look charismatic and forgets to remember the important things. He doesn’t even realize that he has this side of him.

“Special abilities?” Woohyun repeats, his eyes widen in wonder. This is actually a calmer reaction than what Howon expects, “What special abilities?”

“Well…telepathy, turning people into ice, pyrogenism, hydrokinesis, and much more.” Howon lists the abilities he can remember, and then adds, “There is no flying or teleportation, though.”

Woohyun frowns, “Why?”

“I don’t know.” Howon shrugs. He is not sure why he says that, so he changes the topic before the student has too many questions he can’t answer, “There will be an orientation at 9 so you before that you can stay here or go around by yourself, I am just here to introduce myself to you.”

Woohyun blinks at him, still confused.

Howon adds, in almost one breath, “Oh, about the orientation. You can find me in the yard at 9, I will guide you and several other students there. Your uniform and your student card are in your wardrobe, you have to wear it to the orientation. If you are hungry, you can go to the cafeteria and ask for snacks.”

He takes a breath before asking, “Do you have any question?”

Why does Woohyun seem even more confused as Howon keeps explaining? It makes Howon feels confused, too. He waits for Woohyun to ask questions, secretly checking the clock because he only has a short time to visit all the students and introduce himself, before he needs to go again to prepare for the orientation with other monitors. He feels busy.

“Do my family know that I am here?” Woohyun finally asks a question. Howon is not so surprised that he asks that question. It’s the first thing he wondered, too, when he arrived here.

“Yes, they do. We have informed them that you’re here.” Howon is not sure if that is true or not, but that’s what the school told them, and what the monitors are instructed to tell the new students. He looks at the clock again and then declares, “Well, I need to go, I still have other students I need to visit. We can talk more later. For now, do what you want to do.”

Howon turns his back and starts to leave the room. He can hear Woohyun muttering, “Why are all the people here so awkward.”

Howon wonders if he did this thing wrong.


End file.
